The One Where She Had a Little Sunshine to Share

When my term at Scrapbook Express ended in the Spring of 2011, I had a feeling that my days as a design team member for a store or kit club may be numbered. This rotten economy of ours has shuttered so many stores and clubs the DT positions were really becoming harder to come by. Enter a chance peek at a design team site and I sent an application of on a whim. Guess what? I got it! The sweet Amy at Birds of a Feather wanted ME!!  So, so happy to be playing with a kit, again. I love that creative push I get when pressed to make something with JUST what's on my desk.. Thanks so much for the chance, Amy!   Hope you all come play along.

In fact, this past weekend BOAF hosted its second annual Lovebirds Crop. Here's the layout I put together for the "Things I Love"... challenge.

One of my favorite things about being a Momma is watching them together...

I'd love to do a little giveaway in celebration of me joining the Birds of a Feather team. You have up to three chances to win if you:

1. Just leave a comment here for one chance.
2. Become (or be) a follower of my blog.
3. Become (or be) a member at the BOAF Hen House.

Make sure you tell me what you've done in the comments. I'll leave this giveaway open until Wednesday 3/6...

TWO Giveaways & Santa, The Easter Bunny & an ER Visit Averted

Would you like to win the entire Pitter Patter collection from Making Memories? Yes, I mean it. The ENTIRE collection. This includes both Sophie and Oliver and all the papers, embellies, and an album for each. This Croppin Paradise Giveaway is worth over $200 and can be found HERE.

Simply Obsessed's April kit is chock full of the brand spankin new October Afternoon Thrift shop papers. Run HERE to get yours before they're all gone. I had my Reveal before the tragic events of this week, so I did get quite a bunch done...

***********Party of Five's 100th Post Giveaway is still open. You have until Tuesday at 10pm est to get your name entered into the drawing. You can get in on the fun HERE. *************

Oh yea, one more thing...Scrap that Baby's 2nd prompt is up now. Go HERE to see what I did with it, as well as the rest of the team. Hope you join us, and there's a giveway, too. Guess that makes THREE giveways today!!

Make Lemonade

Yesterday I got a wakeup call to end all wakeup calls. Please hold those you love extra close today. I spent hours yesterday picking up my house as I waited for the military's wife's biggest fear: the dreaded knock at the door. You see, there was an E-2C Hawkeye plane crash in the Arabian Sea yesterday. The plane was coming back from a mission in Afganistan when it experienced mechanical difficulties. The four crewmen had to bail out int0 the ocean. Three pilots/nfo's were rescued pretty quickly. They continue to search today for the fourth.

Why am I telling you all this?!? That's my husband's squadron. Around 11 last night, I answered the phone and it seems like it took FOREVER for the connection and then I heard his voice. He WAS ok. He was accounted for. Somehow Patrick was able to get a call out, just long enough to tell me he wasn't on THAT plane. He WAS flying ... a different E-2 at the time of the mishap. Please pray for the missing crewman, his family, the entire VAW-121 family, and our Party of Five .

I promise I'll be back soon with scrappiness. It's that silly hobby, support from family both near and far, and sloppy kisses from our kids that get me through days like these. So... go hug someone right now. The dirty socks next to the clothes hamper just aren't that big of a deal.

With This Post... And a GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sooooo much to say. Not sure I can get through all of it tonight. First up, I've got lots of scrappy creations to share. I am absolutely in love with every kit April puts together over at Studio Calico. I used the recent kit to complete some challenges from the Spring Fling Crop over at Simply Obsessed...

There's something about this next one. I just love it. It doesn't hurt that it has a picture of the Beast from dw.

Clearing out some "classic" Sass to make room for all the new Sass that arrived on my porch this week...

Love these next ones too. Studio Calico, Studio Calico...I love this hobby.

So, when you see the next ones you may say you've seen these before. Yep, you have. I used these layouts as my entry for a Design Team call at an uber super new challenge blog called Scrap That Baby. Well... guess what? I made it AND I love it. The girls on this team are crazy talented. This is not your momma's baby challenge blog. These girls are THAT good. My first original creation goes up on April 15th's post. Check it. I'm so excited for you all to follow me on this new journey.

****************If you've made it this far... I'll make it worth one reader's while. In honor of today's Party of Five's Hundreth Post I'm doing a Giveaway. Leave me a comment, any old thing and I'll enter your name in one of my world famous giveaways. IF YOU ARE A FOLLOWER and leave a comment, you'll get 2 entries. So, get to it. **********************

Twinnies on Thursday

These are a few of their favorite things (to get into and/or dump out) over the last week or so....

applesauce cups, yogurt cups, 2 bottles of kids conditioner, Fun dip (the green one, that stuff does NOT come out of carpeting), 1 bottle of kids shampoo, baby wash, diet coke (lots of that) BK icing (that was eaten with a corn on the cob thingie), poop, Clorox Disenfecting Wipes (they actually got some stuff cleaned with those, before they put them back in the container), clean folded laundry baskets, sorted socks... you get the picture.

Another current favorite of mine is how when they're running from me with their purloined goods they shout "Hurry!", only when they say it, it sounds like Hooie! Which is what they are full of these days.

Miss Sassy got into some discarded mascara. What follows are the fruits of her labor...

We're off to pick up the kiddos from school a bit early today. Patrick FINALLY has a flight out of here. He'll be traveling to Bahrain to meet up with his squadron aboard the Ike. We look forward to his return home, hopefully in August. Prayers are always welcome. For ALL of us.

Come back real soon for my giveaway in celebration of Party of 5's 100th post.

A Dear Lizzy Giveaway

I know you want Dear Lizzy. Go HERE for a chance to win this collection or 4 other fantastic prizes. Can you believe how generous the crew at Croppin Paradise is?

I went to the Spa today!! Ask me about it when I'm not so pooped. It was to die for. g'night.

Croppin Paradise Blog Hop Challenge # 4

Welcome Paradisers to my Party of Five. I'm so glad you decided to join us for our week long Conversation Hearts Blog Hop Crop. I'll be sharing today's Challenge #4. As you know, Croppin Paradise is sponsoring this blog hop. It's a daily tour of the team's blogs where you will receive a challenge to complete and hopefully a little inspiration to boot. Complete the challenge, upload your creation to our GALLERY (or other photo sharing site) and then link it to the corresponding Challenge #4 thread HERE in the CP forum. All entries need to be uploaded by 11:59 PM EST on February 20th to be eligible. Everyone who completes the challenge will be entered into a drawing to win a gift certificate to the Croppin Paradise Store. Good Luck!! Are you ready?



Let's Go... Your challenge is "Cutie Pie"...


C- cut-work
U- U in the title
T-tie something
I-ink something
E-envelope

P-picture (1)
I-use an embellie or tool with an I in it
E- embellie of your choice

How'd I do? C (cut-up the red BoBunny paper), U (check), Tie(see the u in title), Ink (the BoBunny papers), E (OLD envelope lower corner), Pix (check), I (used my I-Top to make a brad), E (Sass stickers)

Alrighty then. Off you go. Don't forget to check in tomorrow at Lisa's Blog for the next challenge!

A Blog Hop Crop and Ketchup

Hope you'll join us for a week long Blog Hop Crop at Croppin Paradise. The fun started a day early at the Croppin Paradise Blog with a fun little game and a giveaway or TWO. Please check it out. But before you go, here are some of my January projects for CP.

Thanks for stopping and all the kind words of Congrats on my new gig! Your comments mean the world to me!!!!!

Giveaway Over at Croppin Paradise

In celebration of CHA and all of the new goodies that have started flooding into the store at Croppin Paradise , we're doing some major giveaways! With every new release that comes into the store, CP will be giving some away. Go check out this week's giveway. The brand new 3 Bugs in a Rug Animal Stackers. Just check out the CP Blog for THREE ways to enter the drawing for these wonderful scrappy goodies. Check the blog often for even more giveaways in the coming weeks!